Sino Grandness rejects negative report, issues update on expansion and trade show

MAINBOARD-listed Sino Grandness Food Industry Group, a food-and-beverage company based in Shenzhen, China, issued a business update on Thursday to counter a Sept 4 report containing negative statements on the sales and financial position of the group.

Sino, which did not name the author or authors of the negative report, announced that under a drive to raise its internal production capacity, its new juice production facilities in Hubei province started production in October, and is expected to have a maximum production capacity of about 240,000 tons of juice a year.

The Hubei plant is expected to benefit the group by gradually reducing its outsourcing costs and managing its production volume more efficiently.

Separately, Sino Grandness announced that it had successfully secured "encouraging" indicative orders and engaged new distributors for the Chongqing Trade Exhibition.

Huang Yupeng, the group's chairman and CEO, said: "Although the Chongqing Trade Exhibition is not as big as the annual trade exhibition held in Chengdu in Sichuan province, we are still pleased with the outcome of the Chongqing Trade Exhibition with its high turnout by existing and new distributors, as well as approximately RMB300 million in indicative orders being secured, compared to approximately RMB390 million in indicative orders secured in March 2014 in Chengdu as announced previously."

Sino Grandness, which intends to release its Q3 results on or around Nov 14, reiterated that the group is in a sound financial position and is in compliance with all statutory and listing requirements.

In relation to the negative report issued on Sept 4, Sino Grandness said it will seek legal adviceon the matter.